


Further to Fly

by o0Anapher0o



Category: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
Genre: F/M, Introspection, Phryne's journey, Post-Season/Series 03, without the challenge part
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-13
Updated: 2019-06-13
Packaged: 2020-05-02 13:18:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19199623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/o0Anapher0o/pseuds/o0Anapher0o
Summary: Into the second week of her journey to England, Phryne takes a break in Bangkok to gather her strength. Letting the last weeks catch up with her, she can't help thinking about what brought her here and what she left behind.





	Further to Fly

**Author's Note:**

> I had resolved not to write a reunion fic, what with the film supposedly coming out this year, so I didn't. But it turns out the journey is fair game.  
> I was recently reminded of this song and while it's not usually one of my favorites I had to think about Phryne on her way to England. Next thing I know this comes pouring out of me. So here it is. I don't think it's a proper song fic though.
> 
> Characters, event refered to, etc. belong to Every Cloud Production (I think). Further to Fly is a song by Paul Simon.

Exhaustion crashed over her the moment her feet touched the ground. The wave of fatigue hit her so hard, she had to grab onto the plane to steady herself and for a moment she was amazed she had managed the landing as well as she had, in her state. The logical part of her mind knew that it was unsurprising she was exhausted. They had flown all day from the early morning on and because this section of the journey had been largely over water there had been no chance to land during the day for a break. It was the fourth or fifth day like this, too, the last week having been mostly comprised of island hopping through Indonesia. They had left Kuala Lumpur in the morning, crossed the gulf of Thailand and had now finally reached Bangkok and the mainland.

It was well into the second week of their journey and they hadn't even made half the distance yet. The mere thought made Phryne even more tired. But there was nothing to it. She straightened up and followed her father off the airfield. „We'll stay here for a day or two.“ she announced when she had caught up with him. As much as she loved to fly, right now not having to think about anything plane-related for a while seemed like heaven. Henry merely nodded. He looked similarly exhausted and quietly trudged along to the hotel. At least she wouldn't have to worry about him tonight.

The next morning she woke up late and refreshed although her whole body was stiff and sore. Idly she wondered if the hotel offered massages. She would find out when she went down to send a telegram to Melbourne, to tell her friends that she would be here long enough to receive a reply, if anything urgent had come up since she had left. Or if they just wanted to give her the latest news from home. On second thought, she would probably have to send more than one. Mac deserved her own and Jack. She had thought a lot about Jack those last two weeks in the air. About the last months with him. Or rather the time they had spend together. She had tried to pinpoint the moment she had fallen in love with him. She couldn't. It had happened so slowly and gently. She had always thought she had been the one chipping away his defences and had never realised he'd done the same to hers. She had suspected it and tried to denied it when he had left after the Gerty Haynes case, and she had known that night after the Pandaris, when he had left his ex-wife behind to come to her. She had known when her father had interrupted their planned dinner and when he had squabbled with Compton and any doubt she may still have held had been obliterated by an Italian widow. So she had noted the moments she had known, but the she couldn't tell when she had started to fall. If she had noticed she might have stopped herself.

 

He hadn't worried that day on the airfield. Watching her fly away after their exchange, their kiss, Jack had been certain, content even. She would always do what she would do, but she had told him she loved him as clearly as she ever would without saying the actual words. In that moment it had been enough.

Of course it hadn't lasted. Phryne travelling, and without a doubt charming, the world was sure to be a sight to behold and he wished desperately he could be by her side to see it. Sometimes in his long and now lonely evenings he amused himself by trying to imagine her, wherever she probably was at this moment. He had bought countless travel reports describing the places she'd most likely stop at and he imagined her climbing the steps to the Batu Caves or paddling her way through the canals of Bangkok. He fiercely envied every single person she would meet and see her in those places.

Sometimes he wondered if he had gone crazy even thinking about following her. Rationally it was madness. The potential kiss of death to his career, his reputation and his finances. All because she had asked him to come, weeks ago now. He couldn't even know if she still meant it. Her life moved fast and she could change her mind any minute. But at the same time he knew he would always come when she asked. He always had. To her cousin's party on the day of his divorce, to Queenscliff on a whim, to Maiden Creek despite her cryptic message. Hell, he had even come to that godforsaken Chalet in the mountains and she hadn't even called him. (Miss Williams had called Hugh, so he had gone, but that was really no excuse for himself). It was the nature of their relationship: She ran ahead and he followed. Sometimes he had to rush to keep up, sometimes she waited for him and he got to enjoy the view. But he invariably always came after her.

He knew she had been the one to bring the light and joy back into his life that he had lost somewhere on the fields of France. He had known it, even before Rosie had pointed it out to him. What he didn't know was if it had taken root enough to survive in her absence. It hadn't the last time she had stopped being a part of his life, when he had pushed her out. So he had kept following her, a part of him petrified by the fear of being plunged back into that darkness of before if he lost sight of her again. He thought he had moved past that fear now. The last weeks had been good. Despite her absence, which he felt with every breath, he hadn't reverted to the liveless shadow of a man he had been. But even though he suspected he could live without her, he found he didn't want to. He wanted to go after her, wanted to see her face, hear her laugh and taste her lips again. He wanted it more than he could remember ever wanting anything. He could stay here, wait for her, hoping she wouldn't move on. or get distracted by everything the world had to offer. He could just wait for her to return to him, but he really really didn't want to.

 

She met with her father in the Hotel lobby. He looked better than yesterday, more rested and less worn. He had stopped wailing and raging against their mode of travel after a few days. Phryne doubted he had had an epiphany and he certainly hadn't lost his fear of flying, but the constant state of anxiety had ground him down to a point where he had just given up complaining. It wasn’t just the exhaustion that made him look older and more tired than before they had left. He ocationally tried to regain his spirit by nagging about something or other about the place they were at, the food, the beds, but there was no heart in his complaints.

They had agreed to meet for dinner to talk over the flight route and the plans for the continuation of their journey tomorrow. It was all they had ever talked about since leaving Australia. That open, honest conversation outside the observatory had been the first of its kind in both their lives and Phryne had a strong suspicion it would also be the last. She had resolved to take him back to England to her mother during this conversation. Not because he had confessed his love for his wife. The majority of her heart was still convinced that love like his didn't mean anything. Love was just a word until you acted like it and her mother was probably better off without him. But in that moment she had, for the first time in her life, seen the man behind the bravado of her father: A man who was capable of feeling. A man weighed down by those feelings of desperation, regret and guilt. And to that Phryne Fisher could relate. She had blamed herself for years for Janey's disappearance and no matter what Jack said, a part of her still did. But only now had she realised that she wasn't the only one.

At the thought of Jack she was hit with a wave of homesickness that almost took her breath away. God how she missed him. Especially during dinners and after, she missed talking to him. She missed his voice, his presence, his sound advice and the way he looked at her over the rim of his whiskey glass. Of course she did. Suddenly the thought occurred to her, that he might not. Not as much, not as desperately. What if his fascination with her would dwindle with the distance between them? What if she returned and he had moved on, continued his life like he had before she had swooped into it. Their relationship was grounded in their work together and he would have to work without her for months now. He might get used to it again. What a hypocrite she was, scolding her father for not acting like he loved her mother, when she had all but declared her love for a man only to literally turn around and fly to the other end of the world. What good was her love for him like that?

The concierge who approached her just as she met Henry cut through her sudden flight of panic. „Miss Fisher? There have been a few telegrams for you.“ Everyone had wired it seemed: Dot, Mac, even Aunt P. But Phryne only had eyes for one telegram:

New attempt at Rom Ov STOP Southampton Dec 18 Rose of Jericho STOP Wire until Sep 28 if no STOP Fly safe STOP JR


End file.
